A hot and bothered night on menopause

From hearing about the latest research on menopause to the need for more ritual to celebrate it, about 50 people gathered at Clear Spot Club’s talk on menopause.

Medical ethicist Dr Wendy Rogers discussed some of the politics of medical research. “Women are under researched for the diseases that kill them like heart disease. We still don’t have information about women’s heart disease treatment as for men.” She says as early as the 2000s, there was no way of measuring menstrual blood loss. “There was no standardisation on normal blood loss,” she says. One method to measure it was through women sending in their pads and tampons, and they would get weighed.

80 ml is the average blood loss for a woman during their period. 

Dr Kirsten Black, who works at the University of Sydney and also runs a menopause clinic, gave a short presentation on how the process impacts on a woman’s body, particularly in relation to decreased bone density. She also examined the latest treatments, including a natural oestrogen. She told the amusing story of a 75-year old woman who was unhappy as her vagina was dry and she was unable to have sex with her husband of 50 years every day.

Chinese Herbalist Lily Liu spoke of growing up in China. As her parents are doctors, she knew about medicine from a young age. She explored the deficiencies that happen with menopause through the five elements. “Day by day our body essence is getting low,” she says.

Maree Lipschitz raised the issue of women having to deal with birth, periods and menopause in secret but maintain a face to the world that nothing is happening. “These processes are natural and normal,” she says. She described a ritual she did with her friends when she went through her own menopause, and later ended the evening by singing “Hymn to Her” by The Pretenders.